Labour MSP Michael Marra has been elected as his party’s new Scottish leader, succeeding Anas Sarwar who quit Holyrood to join Andy Burnham’s government.
MSPs Marra and Joe Fagan competed to succeed Anas Sarwar after he stood down from the post in July this year, saying afterwards it was the “hardest job in British politics”.
North East Scotland MSP Mr Marra defeated his leadership rival Joe Fagan by 4,266 votes to 2,485.
Marra takes charge after the party suffered its worst result in the history of devolution in May’s Scottish Parliament elections – returning just 17 MSPs.
While the now Lord Sarwar had originally vowed to stay on in the post in the wake of that defeat, he quit Holyrood in July to join the House of Lords, becoming a trade minister in new prime minister Andy Burnham’s government.
That appointment came after the then Scottish Labour leader became the first senior figure in the party to publicly call for Mr Burnham’s predecessor Keir Starmer to resign as prime minister.
Marra is Scottish Labour’s 11th leader of the devolution era, excluding those who have held the post on an interim basis.
Having worked for Dundee University prior to entering politics, Mr Marra was made Scottish Labour’s education spokesperson in 2021.
The former Dundee councillor then went on to become his party’s finance spokesperson some two years later.
He describes himself as being “rooted in Labour”, telling party members during the campaign how he went on trade union marches as a child with his sister and his parents.
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